Call 0333 600 6008
fun@activehighs.co.uk

Active Highs Adventure Activities
Based at Loch Ness Highland Resort
Fort Augustus
PH32 4BG

Great Glen Canoe & Kayak Hire

Active Highs offers Great Glen canoe and kayak hire, as well as a pick-up and drop-off shuttle service for a seamless, end-to-end Great Glen canoe trip.

We have a range of open Canadian-style canoes, sea and touring kayaks for self-guided expeditions along the Great Glen Canoe Trail and Caledonian Canal, the sea lochs and coastline of the west coast, or perhaps the River Spey.  We only offer canoe hire to people that we deem competent enough to be able to look after themselves in a wild environment, or who are in the company of a qualified or competent group leader.

Great Glen Canoe Transport

If you have your own means of safely transporting hired boats and equipment, you are most welcome to come and pick them up from our base just west of Inverness.  If doing this, please ensure that you have a suitable trailer or roof rack system that is capable of carrying the boats, and a strapping system suitable for tying the boats onto your trailer or vehicle.

If you do not have a way of picking up boats or would like us to deliver and collect you and the equipment, please get in touch.  However, please note that our shuttle service is only available to boat hire customers.  No shuttle-only bookings will be accepted.

For more information about canoe, kayak hire and shuttles, please use our contact form or enquire by emailing fun@activehighs.co.uk

Please note that single-day hire is only available when a minimum of 5 boats are hired (from April to September).  The exception to this is when customers can collect and return equipment from our Inverness or Aviemore offices, or when we have availability from October to March.

Active Highs is owned and operated by In Your Element

 

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Canadian Canoe Hire

1 day: £60                  2+ days £50 per day

(Hire for 4 days, get a 5th free)

Canoe hire includes

  • Paddles [with spares]
  • Buoyancy aids (or life jackets for small children)
  • Helmets [if required]
  • 60 litre watertight barrel per person or equivalent sized dry bag.
  • A portage trolley for every 2 boats hired
  • A water bailer
  • A laminated map per group
  • Free toilet trowel and firepan (on request)
  • Fitted buoyancy airbags and painter ropes
  • Our canoes are predominantly 16ft Venture Rangers, ideal for multi-day trips on flat or moving water.
  • The canoes come with 2 fitted seats, and although they have sufficient room for a third adult or a couple of small children kneeling in the middle, you must bear in mind that, along with the expedition kit, the boat may sit low in the water and put you at risk of being swamped.

Kayak Hire

Sea Kayaks – 1 day: £55   2+ days £43 per day     Touring Kayaks – 1 day: £48    2+ days £37 per day

Hire boats for 4 days, get 1 extra day free.

Kayak hire includes

  • Paddle
  • Buoyancy aid
  • Helmets [if required]
  • Spray deck
  • 2x 40 litre dry bags
  • Portage trolley if required
  • Laminated map
  • Water bailer

Our kayaks are suitable for single-day journeys or multi-day expeditions.

We do not hire kayaks for river journeys.

Optional Extras

Additional equipment that you might need

You may not have your own, or you may not be able to bring it with you, so we can provide the following equipment for you should you need it.

  • Additional portage trolleys: £15 per booking
  • 5 metre security cables: Free on request
  • Inflatable roof rack (for your own car):£15 per booking (Suitable for 1 canoe at a time)
  • Midge nets: £7 each to buy
  • Laminated maps: £7 per additional map
  • Camping, cooking and dining equipment: £18 per person per night (Includes tent, inflatable sleeping mat, stove and fuel, pots, plates, bowls, mugs, cutlery).  Note: Sleeping bags are not included.
  • Tent and inflatable sleeping mat: £8 per per person per night
  • Cooking and eating equipment: £10 per person per night
  • Expedition toilet trowel: FREE on request
  • Portable Toilet: Particularly important for larger groups to help minimise the impact on local environment – instruction on how to use will be provided. £15 per booking.
  • Fire pan: FREE on request (To protect the ground if you intend to have camp fires)
  • Canoe sailing kit: £15 per booking
  • Cool box (canoe only): £7 per booking
  • 10 litre water carriers: £7 per booking
  • Canoe/ Kayak Coaching: If you’d like an instructor to spend some time with you on day 1 of your trip, just to make sure you settle in to the trip ok the costs would be £110 for the first 2 hours of your trip or £200 for up to 5 hrs. Please note: 1 instructor for every 10 canoeists or 8 kayakers paddling would be required.

REQUIREMENTS

Although we don’t require any formal paddling qualifications, we are unable to hire out canoes to novice paddlers without a suitably competent leader in the party. Please provide us with more details on your level of experience when you contact us.

Equipment and Passenger Shuttle Service

We can help out with our canoe or kayak and passenger shuttles when you hire equipment from us.This service is only available for equipment hire customers for a minimum of 2 boats for 2 or more days.If you’re looking for a shuttle-only service and don’t need to hire equipment, you could try Highland Yaks, a specialist transport service for locations around Scotland.

You have the option of picking up the equipment yourself

You can pick up the canoes or kayaks from us using your own vehicle and roof rack. You will get 1 canoe or 2 sea kayaks (usually) on a fitted car roof rack safely.  If you happen to have J-bars or upright bars, then you may get 2 or 3 kayaks comfortably.

We have an inflatable roof rack available to hire if you don’t have your own roof bars. Our handi-racks are only suitable for 1 boat at a time, and you need to have a 4-door car in order to fit it (using straps through the door frames).  The handi-rack is not suitable for carrying tandem kayaks.

Please note: we do not hire out our canoe/ kayak trailers.

Where does our shuttle service operate?

Amongst other places here are some locations:

  • Great Glen Canoe Trail
  • River Spey
  • Loch Ericht
  • Loch Quoich
  • Loch Shiel
  • West Coast of Scotland

Why use our shuttle service?

  • We can pick you up from your accommodation, the railway station, bus station or Inverness airport and take you to where you want to go.
  • We can meet you at the start point of your boat journey and deliver the equipment to you.
  • We can meet you at your intended finish point, where you can leave your vehicles.  We’ll then shuttle you to the start point with the equipment to save you another shuttle at the end of the trip.
  • We can meet you at the end of the journey and shuttle you back to your vehicles.
  • If some of your group have their own boats, we can transport them with the hire equipment (for an additional fee).

LOCATION

We are based close to Inverness, so ideally located to service The Great Glen Canoe Trail and many other locations in the region.

Hire Prices

Canoe Hire Prices

Length of Hire Tandem

Open Canoe

 Touring

Kayak 

 Sea

Kayak

 Tandem

Kayak
1 Day £60 £48 £55 £60
2 days £100 £74 £86 £100
3 Days £150 £111 £129 £150
4 Days £200 £148 £172 £200
5 Days (free day) £200 £148 £172 £200
6 days £250 £185 £215 £250

MULTI DAY CANOE HIRE ENQUIRY & BOOKING FORM

Please fill in our canoe hire enquiry & booking form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible with availability and confirmation.

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